Shades of McCarthyism

With effective control of the Bush administration's Middle East policy, and with nearly unopposed hegemony over both houses of Congress, the pro-Israel lobby is now turning its attention to academia, the last bastion of American intellectual integrity.

Unhappy that many university professors have expressed criticism of Israel's continued occupation of the Palestinian territories, and its excessive violations of the human rights of the Palestinians, Zionist activists in America are waging a campaign to stifle opposition to Israel among American students and professors.

As reported in the Wall Street Journal on Sept. 18, a pro-Israeli think tank, the Middle East Forum, has launched an internet site to monitor the attitudes of American professors toward Islamic fundamentalism and the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Daniel Pipes, the director of the Middle East Forum, reportedly wants to maintain "dossiers" on professors and academic institutions and to collect information from students regarding their teacher's political opinions.

One such target is the University of North Carolina, where one professor chose to assign the Koran as reading material for incoming students. The parents of one student were offended by the choice and protested to the university's administration.

In the prevailing atmosphere of hostility to Arabs and Muslims in America, many Americans have jumped on the bandwagon, led by Christian Evangelists and the likes of Pipes, who have manipulated Washington's "war on terrorism" to advance their anti-Arab agenda.

Anyone familiar with the power of the Israeli lobby in the United States must be aware of the effective contribution to the lobby by Jewish Hillel centers and B'nai B'rith chapters in most American colleges and universities. These organizations and others enjoy America's freedom of speech and freedom of assembly that are enshrined in the US Constitution.

Pipes and his so-called Middle East Forum aew now calling on these organizations and other students to report their teachers' political opinions in a manner that recalls the dark days of McCarthyism.

Today, senior Bush administration officials and advisers constantly beat the drums of war on Iraq and counsel the extension of US hegemony over the Middle East.

Top officials like Richard Perle, Paul Wolfowitz, Douglas Feith and John Bolton are among the well-known advisers behind Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld.

These leftovers of the Reagan and the senior Bush administrations are ardent supporters of Israel and vehement opponents of Arab causes. Some of them have a history of attacking the UN, and more recently European governments that advocate balanced policies in the Middle East.

Farouk MawlawiThe writer is a former senior official of the Arab League and the United Nations